Set Free
by Kharissa
Summary: When Ludwig finds an albino neko in his kitchen, he isn't quite sure what to make of it. But loneliness and the knowledge that his guest can't read drive him to take the half human thing in. They learn much more than just how to read and write, though. They learn about a bond they shared before something tore them apart. Rated T for probable swearing, multichapter


Cold, dreary, and wet. That was what it was like in a small town in Germany. The general ickyness of the day had seemed to seep into the residents of the town. Smiles were hard to come by, and laughter was only a few short chuckles, if it was there at all. One particular person in this place seemed to have soaked up a lot of the bad weather. He sighed as he organised his paperwork from his corporate job, setting the papers into bins labelled 'Sign, Don't Sign, Research'. He looked out the window as he was doing that. It was really a force of habit. There was no way anyone could see anything out of a window. The rain was coming down too fast. The blond German finally finished organising his paperwork, then pulled the papers out of the 'Sign' bin and started signing his name on the bottom. The house was completely silent, except for the scratch of his pen on the paper. Usually he was alone in the house... but that wasn't the case today.

An albino had snuck in the back door. But strangely, this albino had been almost silent in doing so. The only sound that could be heard was the very soft padding of his bare feet on the maple hardwood floor. He padded his way to the kitchen, hunched over slightly and looking very tense. The last thing he wanted was to be caught. Again. He looked at the fridge, then the cupboards, trying to discern what would make the least amount of noise and would give him the food he needed. He couldn't exactly open a can with a rock. The fridge probably had produce of some kind in it, but it would make noise when opened. The cupboards might squeak when opened, and there was a good chance there was only canned food in there. Or something in a bag that would make rustling sounds when grabbed.

The would-be thief was about to make his decision, when the owner of the house came down for a snack. The two froze and stared at each other. The blond was clearly confused, and for good reason. Not only was there an albino with a hand on his fridge handle, but this albino had cat ears and a silvery tail swishing behind him. The half cat, half human gulped and slowly took his hand off the handle of the fridge. His tail was puffed up and his ears were back. No words were passed between the two for what seemed like forever. They just stood, looking at each other, wondering what the other's next move would be. The blond, who was a bit taller than the other, looked the scared albino over in bewilderment. His fur was wet, he had no shoes, and the only clothes he wore were a pair of sweatpants, which had absorbed much of the rain, and a purple sweater that was nowhere near warm enough. The German shook his head quickly to get himself in order. He did need to interrogate the break and enter-er, after all.

"Why are you in my house?"

"T-to get food" The albino's voice was soft and a little shaky. He started taking slow, small steps into a corner, as if the man he was confronted with would advance on him. The man did no such thing.

"Where did you come from?"

"A place in somewhere called Russia… I was taken there from here, wherever here is. The man who set me free told me to come to this country"

The interrogator was slightly intrigued by the words 'set free'. That would imply the man-cat thing standing in front of him had been held captive.

"I see…" He walked to the fridge and looked in it. He was certain there was leftovers somewhere in there. He found a container of mashed potatoes, leftovers from his breakfast. He put them in the microwave to reheat them. "I'll give you something to eat and a place to stay for the night. But after that, you are gone. Understood?"

"J-ja, understood…. danke. And my name's Gilbert, by the way"

"I'm Ludwig"

Gilbert leaned against a wall, looking at the blue eyed one. He couldn't shake the feeling that he knew the other from somewhere, but he couldn't place where. Ludwig felt the same. He took the potatoes out of the microwave, put a fork in them and handed the container to Gilbert.

"I will be up in my study if I am needed. Bitte, don't try to take anything else"

The German left then, going back up the stairs. He threw himself into his work this time around. Perhaps he could get finished before the familiar face downstairs fell asleep? Then he could really question as to the origins of his guest. The albino stood there, looking at the food for almost a minute. It looked and smelled delicious… no one had ever given him hot food before. He plopped down on the floor and started eating, pushing past the fact that his tongue was burned several times. He only ate about a quarter of the food. He figured saving the rest for later would be wiser than eating it all in one gulp. He got up and walked to the living room. The albino sat on the couch and grinned, bouncing a few times on it. He hadn't felt something this comfy in a long time. He looked around the house and absentmindedly played with his tail.

The house was of a fairly large size. The living room was pretty big. There were a few couches and chairs, a flatscreen TV surround sound system, shelves of movies, but no video games. Everything was dust-free. Gilbert set his container of food on the floor and laid down on the couch, before he realised that he was still wet. Ludwig hadn't given him any clean clothes to wear. He groaned and stood up, looking at the door the other had disappeared into. He held his breath and slowly climbed the stairs. He stopped right in front of the door and gave it three gentle knocks. Ludwig sighed and got up from his work to answer it.

"Ja?"

Gilbert stared up at him for a few moments, then pointed to his clothes. "They're still wet… do you have anything else I can wear?"

The taller gently moved Gilbert to the side, then went to his bedroom. He returned with a pair of pajama pants and a shirt that would be a couple sizes too big on the albino's slim frame. He gave the clothes to the half cat and went back to his study without a word. Gilbert just changed into the clothes in the hall, leaving the wet ones at the door. He went back downstairs and laid down on a different couch. In doing so, he laid down on the remote for the TV. He jumped as it turned on to some cooking show. The half-cat panicked and jumped to the television. He pressed random buttons until it turned off, then sighed in relief. Since he'd fixed the problem he'd created, perhaps he wouldn't be punished for it? And if he probably wouldn't be punished for that… maybe it wouldn't hurt to do some exploring? After all, as long as he was careful no harm would be done to any of the other's things. He decided to go off into the house, and discover what was there. It was better than sitting around and doing nothing.

Upstairs, Ludwig was hard at work in his study. He was stuck on one paper in the 'Research' bin. There was practically nothing on the topic on the internet, and anything he did find came from very questionable sources. He sighed and decided to move on to something else. The German didn't feel like getting more frustrated than he already was. He knew that he'd seen Gilbert somewhere before, but he just couldn't remember where. And that bothered him to no end. Eventually, Ludwig just got plain frustrated with himself. He went downstairs, only to find the half-cat… not there.

"Gilbert? Gilbert, where are you?"

It felt weird to call out into the usually empty house. Ludwig normally spent his days in near complete silence, except for the cooking channel and the occasional hockey or soccer game. Other than that, there was usually nothing in his house. He wasn't even sure why he'd gotten such a big house. It would be easy for a newcomer to get lost in, like the albino probably was.

Said albino wasn't lost, per se. He was just exploring. He'd gone down a few different hallways, and had peeked into a few different rooms. He was currently in one with a bunch of drawings of cars. He curiously unpinned it from the board it was on and put it on a table. The cat-human hybrid looked over the drawing. It was of what looked like a fancy car. Every detail looked precise, every colour looked like it was thought out, tried a few different ways before actually put in the drawing. Gilbert's tail flicked behind him as he looked over the drawing he'd taken down. It didn't occur to him that he might be punished for looking through his host's personal things… he was too interested. He leaned down, as he saw something in the corner. The albino didn't really know how to read. So, when he heard Ludwig come in, of course his first reaction was to whirl around, his ears flattened and his tail wrapped tight around his leg. But as soon as he saw that strangely, Ludwig didn't seem too angry, he eased up a little. The shorter of the two pointed to the writing on the drawing.

"What does that say?"

The blond walked over and looked at the drawing he'd made. It was from a few months ago, when he'd actually finished it. He was quite proud of his work. He'd done something that required delicacy, even with his lack in skill with the arts. The German looked at his guest, searching his eyes for a moment.

"That is the BMW i8… you can read, right?"

He figured it was an honest question. The letters and numbers written in white ink on the otherwise black page were quite clear. Gilbert glanced from the sheet of paper to the one who drew on it and back again.

"Of course I can! Can't everyone?"

"Nein. There are some people who can't read. And, if you can, what does that say there?"

Ludwig tilted his head over to another drawing. Gilbert walked to it and looked at the writing on it. He chewed on his lip, his tail swishing nervously. He was barely literate at all. The most he knew was names of foods and expiry dates, and various signs on the road.

"That is, uh...w-well, it's pretty clear that it's um… a car."

"Ja, but what kind of car?"

"...BMW i8?"

The blue eyed one shook his head. Now he knew this half cat, half human thing couldn't read. And he couldn't just let Gilbert back out of the house without knowing how to read, could he? Gilbert might get himself in serious trouble, such as going into a highly restricted area and thinking he'd walked into a public park!

"Nein. That is the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 Roadster. And now I know you cannot read… therefore you are staying here until you can."

Ludwig had already convinced himself that getting the red eyed man to stay would be the best course of action. He wanted to know why he got such a sad, familiar feeling any time he looked at Gilbert, and he wanted to make sure Gilbert was literate. The blond would teach his guest to write in both English and German as well, and would teach him how to use the internet, how to properly write and send a letter, and how to cook. Deep inside himself, Ludwig knew that this was just to cure his loneliness. His Italian and Japanese friends didn't come by as often as they used to, leaving the German to sit around all day and mindlessly work on signing papers, and researching things he already knew about just to pass the time.

Gilbert knew none of that, however. He just knew that he'd been offered a place to stay, on the condition that he learn to read. His red eyes widened and a huge grin broke out on his face. He immediately hugged the other man tight, with both his arms and his tail.

"Danke! I'll be good, I promise!"

The animal human hybrid pulled back as soon as he'd said that, noticing how his host hadn't hugged back. Maybe he didn't like hugs? The salt looked up at the other's face. While Ludwig had on a stoic expression, it seemed to the former slave that the blue eyes were smiling. And that was cause enough for him to grin even wider. A day that had started out so gloomy for both of them had suddenly gotten a lot brighter… hopefully the days to come would be like that too.

((Hey guys! So, uh… I know this isn't what I said I'd write at all, but… I've had a really bad case of writer's block, and after a year of writing PruCan, I'm kind of done with it. So I hope you'll all forgive me, and bear with me as I try to get back into the swing of writing. And happy late holidays!))


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